Chapter 2: Sylvan Kingdom
-
As the first rays of the sun entered my room, I slowly felt my consciousness returning.
I unhurriedly got up from my bed while stretching my arms. Entering the bathroom, I proceeded to prepare myself and relieve my body from everything that needs to be relieved.
Looking at the lone mirror hanging at the side of the bathroom, a lone figure of a boy can be seen reflecting.
Black eyes, black hair, pointed nose, pale white skin, and a small mole at the edge of his forehead, everything that could be described as a splitting image of a person inside my mind.
A person I’ve always looked up to ever since I was young.
A person whom I’ve dreamt of becoming one in the future…
My father…
Now that the thought of him crossed my mind, questions after questions entered my mind.
How are they now? Have they received my letter? Did he really want to never see me again?
Ugh, I think I should simply go on and forget about it then think of something else. Ahh, last night huh...
Last night, I’ve pretty much enjoyed some nice steak from one of the renowned restaurant in this city and decided to just rent a room in some nearby inn.
Now that I think about it, I’ve actually wasted about 10 gold coins in just one day. Damn, during my journey, the most I’ve spent is a little over 4 gold coins for food and accommodation.
Other than that, the 10 gold coins that I needed to pay the bank in order to acquire a silver card.
Wow, this is too much. The way I splurged money yesterday shouldn’t happen ever… again.
I mean, I don’t want to become a beggar. If that ever happened, I don’t even know nor do I want to think about it and right now, I don’t even have a single idea about how I should earn money.
I might have way too much on my hands but money is really easy to spend once you get lost in the moment. Sometimes, when money is just there and entirely reachable by your hands, you can’t help but use it.
Like at first, you would hesitate to buy anything to preserve money, then once you start buying something, it simply becomes a splurge. You’d literally forgot all the hesitations and warnings that you stapled in your mind to conserve money.
Sigh… I need to become more thrifty.
I think, perhaps I should break down 5 gold coins into silver coins and store the rest of my on-hand gold coins in my silver card.
Yeah, that would be safer and more reassuring. For the future, this sounds a good plan.
Now that the thought crossed my mind, gold coins aren’t the only thing that could be used to buy something. There are also silver coins, and lastly, copper coins.
To make it simple, 100 copper coins are equal to 1 silver coin, and 100 silver coins are equal to 1 gold coin. Convenient, right?
Well, during my journey towards the Sylvan kingdom, most of the things that I bought costed very minimal.
Most food and drinks to let me get by with each passing day only costed me a few silver coins or so.
Even the accumulated cost of renting an inn during my journey only costed a little over 40 silver coins.
Thinking about it, I might be rich right now, but who knows what the future holds?
Aside from the clothes and some other important stuff that were stored in the spatial ring given to me by family, there’s just nothing else that could be treated as ‘possessions’.
No weapons, no armors, there’s just only the gold and the spatial ring.
While it is true that these two are like, worth something big, it’s still different from the kind of possessions that I had in mind.
I want my own stuff like my own furnitures, my own weaponry, my own set of clothes, my own collection of gems, there are just too much that I want as a possession.
Also, I don’t think that I would like to live the rest of my life renting a room inside an inn.
I mean, one day, I also hope to have a place that I can call home.
Nevermind that, enough of these stuffs. Maybe I should just go on and start the day and do something.
There’s a lot to prepare and from today onwards, there are many decisions to be made..
-
After visiting the bank and storing everything else aside from five gold coins that I converted into 500 silver coins, I decided to visit the nearby library.
I should gather some much needed information before deciding about anything.
Like one of my teachers said, information is the key. Be it a real life and death battle, or a problem that many things are at stake, information will always be useful.
Now that the things I’m about to decide are something that might as well affect my future, then gathering information should be the first step.
Information about the Sylvan Kingdom.
While pondering about the things that I will do in the future, I finally arrived at the library.
As I entered, the smell of books entered my nose. A sensation that tells me about how this place is filled with antiques that were passed on for countless of years.
Inside, countless books in a number of shelves were arranged neatly.
Looking at it more closely, somehow, I feel that these books are… alive? Probing more about, I discovered how all, if not, most of the books brought forth a feeling as if they are living.
When I touched one, it was as if the air around me changed and a serene feeling overwhelmed. Just what is this...
“Oh, you can already feel the essences?”
While I was lost in thought, the voice of an old woman resounded in my ears.
Looking at the direction where the voice came from, I instantly stumbled a few steps backwards when I noticed that she was just two or three steps behind me.
When I entered the library, I felt like it was as if a desolate place and thinking back, I never saw anyone or anything that hinted towards a ‘person’ being here.
I mean, of course, there should be someone manning this place but, you know, it was strange how I didn’t see nor feel a single presence when I entered and now, suddenly, someone appeared out of nowhere?
Is she that thing that is called… a ghost? I shuddered with this thought as I hesitantly looked at the person that is now in front of me.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
Looking at her, her white hair and her somehow sickly stature were the most noticeable. She has a certain smile on her face that makes me think that she’s just not normal.
Even with her back a little bit bent and the cane on her right hand make it so that she looked a little too fragile, there’s just something different about her. Hmmm… It’s like she’s person whom I should respect utmostly and deal with carefully.
Oh… now that I think about it, didn’t she just ask me a question? Essences?
With a blank look, thoughts about what essences are appeared inside my mind.
I remembered, essences are something that is naturally forming in the world. As my teachers in the past said, it’s something that can be absorbed by mages as something called ‘mana’ which can be used to command the elements to your bidding.
Well, that’s all that I know about it. I’ve only just recently discovered its existence and I still don’t have a single idea about how to absorb it nor how to cast spells.
There are many steps in doing this but you know, my education was cut off when I was banished from the clan and right now, I’m in a bottleneck.
Ah, let’s talk about this later on. Yeah, I should really go on and answer the old woman. Thinking about her question, I slowly nodded my head.
Definitely I know I can feel essences and I know it exists. But somehow, that’s all I can do about it. Whenever I try to meditate, there’s like a fine line separating me from these essences. Forget it, I don’t even know how it works.
Now that I think about it, how does essences relate to the books?
While these thoughts appeared in my mind, she suddenly said, “Good, good, how old are you boy?”
Hearing her, I immediately answered, “13.”
As I said that, something felt off about her expression. While it didn’t seem to change at all, there’s just something about her… state, that seemed different.
At that moment, the old woman turned her back as her left hand reached for her chin. I couldn’t see her expression anymore but something tells me that it’s something inconceivable.
“Hoho, a bit talented huh. What’s your name boy? It’s the first time I’ve seen you in this place. Are you perhaps, from another country?” The old woman asked.
“A-Al-... Cleo Aeris, I came from Emerxia Kingdom and… I just arrived here yesterday.”
Damn, I almost blurted out that name. I almost forgot, I’m not that person anymore.
“Oh, seems like some you have some certain circumstances. By the way you can just call me Grandma Meng. I’ve been the overseer of this library for over four decades. Hoho… well, what do you seek by coming in this old place?”
As she spoke, she once again turned around and her expression from a while ago never even changed. What a scary woman…
Leaving that aside, I really need to focus about what I need to do right now. Judging from her words, I guess she should be the right person to ask about the books I need to find.
With that thought in mind, I answered, “I’m here to read books about Sylvan Kingdom. I still don’t know that much about this place and I thought that getting information from the library would be good.”
“Not bad. It’s true that the library should give you what you need so anyways, would you tell me exactly the things you want to learn?”
“Uhm… general information about the Sylvan Kingdom and… I think the best place where I can live?”
The things I knew about the Sylvan Kingdom were very minimal. I didn’t know its norms, its rules and regulations, and its general geography. As a person who will probably live here for a long time, of course I naturally need to know everything important.
“Planning ahead huh… go to that corner and then turn left. In the rightmost shelf, books that could satiate the things you want to learn are there.”
With a smile on her face, she pointed towards a corner of the library and proceeded to give me directions. Once she was done speaking, I only gave her a slight smile and some thanks before leaving.
Going through the direction where she told me, I saw a few books with titles, “Sylvan Kingdom”, “Church of Gaea”, “Great Cities of the Sylvan Kingdom”, and “Kingdom of Nature”.
Looking at these books, I immediately took the book entitled ‘Sylvan Kingdom’.
As I took the book and opened it, that certain sensation from a while ago once again overwhelmed me. I was meaning to ask this to the old woman but I guess… not now.
With the information laid before me, I need to maintain my focus and learn more about the Sylvan Kingdom as much as possible.
The Sylvan Kingdom, also known as, Gaea’s Abode, is the third ranked country within the Emerald Continent. By ranking, what I meant is its strength as a country in terms of economy and military.
My former country, the Emerxia Kingdom, ranks fifth within the Emerald Continent. Meaning, the overall strength of Sylvan Kingdom is definitely above my former country and perhaps that should be something to be happy about. Not that it matters… right… damn, forget it.
The Sylvan Kingdom’s main feature lies on the fact that it is where the Holy Capital of the Church of Gaea is found. Because of this, most of the people born of the Sylvan Kingdom are followers of the Church of Gaea.
Through the power and reputation of the Church of Gaea, the Sylvan Kingdom has flourished. With an advocacy that the world should be one with nature, everywhere within the Sylvan Kingdom is filled with terrific scenery of lush and green.
A place where trees and plants, more than anything else, filled the surroundings.
Now that I think about it, perhaps it’s the reason why even the border city of the Sylvan Kingdom is this beautiful.
I’m really starting to wonder more about the Church of Gaea. Thinking about it, my former country didn’t really have a religion to follow. There were also churches of different kinds within my former country and among them, the Church of Gaea is something that has almost always crossed my ears.
Now that I’m a place where it’s prominent, maybe I should learn more about it. But, that entirely is for later. Right now, the first thing I should think about is making a plan about what’s next.
After reading this much, I’ve decided that the next step I should take is deciding for a place where I can settle. If i will live in the Sylvan Kingdom for a long time, then I need to get a place that I can call home.
Living in inns won’t do. I still have a lot money but I don’t think it will last if I kept spending on unnecessary stuff. Finding a place where I can live then finding a school for mages should be the next step.
There’s so much more to it than just deciding but I guess, for now, I need to go over the cities of the Sylvan Kingdom.
-